Meg Maher

Background

About Meg Maher

I’m an exhibition curator who believes in the transformative power of informal education, especially museum experiences. I help museums tell stories that shift how people view themselves and the world around them. The world is ever-changing and complex. People of all ages and backgrounds need help making sense of their everyday and learning how to make informed decisions. With my expertise in exhibitions development and training in education, I encourage visitors to make meaningful connections between the past and present. I empower them to take an active role in their learning, to think critically and creatively, and to be a force for positive change not only for themselves but for society.MY EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT SUPERPOWERS Insatiable curiosity across a broad range of subjects and topics Ability to identify concepts, stories, objects, and imagery that resonate and are relevant to diverse audiences “Dog with a bone” attitude towards research, applying critical thinking to verify and interpret “trusted” and unconventional primary and secondary sources Expertise in writing that is engaging, thought-provoking, and respectful of audiences of varying backgrounds and viewpoints Value a collaborative team approach, sharing my expertise and learning from and with internal and external experts, partners and stakeholders, including museum visitors Product and process-driven, committed to working independently and as a team to create exhibition deliverables of the highest academic and educational quality, on time and within budgetACHIEVEMENTS Raised $1 million unrestricted gift for the production of the recently co-curated "Change Your Game / Cambia tu juego," a visitor-centric, experiential exhibition at the Smithsonian featuring diverse, everyday inventors for sports as a means to shift visitors' self-perceptions as inventors Curated eight permanent exhibits for the redesigned International Spy Museum, including one considering the intelligence failures that led to the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks, praised by NYT, WSJ, and Guardian Developed content and managed project activities for 63 exhibitions, including the curation of "The Public’s Treasures: A Cabinet of Curiosities from The New York Public Library," critically acclaimed by Time, NYT, and Time Out New York Oversaw the development of 12 online exhibitions, including "Utopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World," which received over 1 million hits in its first year of publication and was well received by NYT, Journal of American History, and Yahoo!